Southwest fined $200K over 'fare sale' practices

The Department of Transportation fined Southwest Airlines $200,000 on Tuesday for allegedly not having enough seats available for the discounted price during a fare sale.

DOT accused the Texas airline of promoting one-way, nonstop fares "for $100 or less" for travel on Feb. 14, but then failing to have enough seats to buy in a "significant" number of cities.

The department also said that in late January, Southwest advertised $66 one-way fares from its home base at Dallas Love Field to Branson, Mo. For travel in March, but didn’t have any seats available for that price.

The fine is fairly significant compared with similar violations of price advertising. Chicago-based Orbitz was fined $60,000 in 2011 under the same rule.